


Upon the Raging Waves

by halcyin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: 1700s, Captain Ryan, Historical AU, M/M, Siren Ray, Siren/Merpeople AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6182530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyin/pseuds/halcyin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Geoff peered up at the sky, eyes squinting to make out the dim stars against the bright constellations before his gaze dropped down to the bright embers of the ships that had been fighting moments ago. He sighed, thoughts slowly churning in his head before he looked down at his pocket watch, snapping it shut with a quick flick of his fingers. He pocketed the watch, slipping his hands into his breeches as well as he gazed out on the water, shimmering orange and lighter bright from the light of the wreckage. He breathed in through his nose, and exhaled from his mouth.</p><p>"It'd be funny if it was the one that Haywood's captain of. I'd love to see his stubborn ass trying to take me down again, but this time without his ship, not to mention my fishy friends this time," Geoff grumbled to himself with a smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> ily to my man romeonohomeo/memejocksupreme for trudging through this writing with me<3
> 
> but a new story!! i've been wanting to write something historical & mermaid/siren au for a while, so here it finally is! not sure when new updates will be, sorry!
> 
> sidenotes: jeremy will be in the story, but not until later ;), also the rating is subject to change  
> \- raywood is the main pairing, but micheoff, mavin, & jackeoff may show up/may be hinted at.

Blood stained the water, dissipating as if it never existed moments later as a flash of a dark orange tail, presumably darker due to the water’s murkiness, brushed it away. The figure continued on swimming, following the blood trails in the water, disappearing into the color of the murky greenish blue water.

But at the sound of a cannon exploding above, red and orange colors illuminating the water for a moment's notice, the creature stopped and turned his head upwards. His amber eyes peered at the surface of the water, pupils dilating into slits, yet his eyes widened when he heard the sound of splitting wood.

The creature gazed around for anything else in the water beside himself before another cannon shot interrupted his thoughts. His lips turned upwards as he heard multiple splashes of bodies entering the water, heading to the nearest one.

The shadow swam quickly, body propelling through the water, tail swaying up and down to keep him going until he reached the limp body in the water, sinking lifelessly. He swam towards it, watching the bubbles trail out of the human’s mouth, blood streaming from several wounds and arms limply floating in the water.

He smiled, grabbing the larger human with sharp nails, pricking the skin to expose more streams of blood and taste the copper eagerly in the water. He could feel the life beginning to drain out of the human as he drowned, baring his razor sharp teeth and lower his head to take a bite of the human’s arm.

Fangs dug into flesh and the human snapped out of unconsciousness, head shooting up, yelling muffled by the sound of the water but was clearly audible to the creature's ears.

“Michael!”

A voice shouted his name from the distance, and the merfolk stared at the human, piercing blue eyes meeting amber ones. The human kicked Michael away, clutching his wounded arm as he desperately swam to the surface.

Michael growled, not bothering to go after his food. The human was swimming up to the surface, donning a fancy outfit and expensive materials that after Michael ate him, they could use for resources, but Jack always _had to ruin_ the meaty kills.

The siren sighed, folding his arms as he watched the large human break the surface, hearing his frantic breathing and heartbeat. As soon as Jack came in front of him, though, Michael directed his attention to the other.

“Jack, I can’t believe you let my food go.”

Out of the murky depths, another creature appeared, deep, dark purple scales shimmering in the dimly lit water, hazel colored eyes with slitted pupils peering at Michael with disdain.  

Another cannon shot off from one of the boats above, the shadow of the giant masts casting darkness over Jack, concealing her frown in the consuming darkness.

“What did I tell you? If they’re alive, don’t try to fucking eat them.”

Michael rolled his eyes, grazing his nails across the scales on his arms idly and looking upwards at the sailor whom had gotten away. The sailors wasn’t look too hot, blond hair matted against his face and the ribbon holding back the majority of it hadn’t done such a good job.

“The fresher they are, the tastier they are,” Michael mumbled, shooting daggers at the other siren.

Jack dismissively rolled her eyes, starting to swim upwards towards the surface.

“If you help Ray get the rest of the alive ones, I might let you eat one of the Brits, you hear me?”

Michael groaned, letting himself float in the current of the sea. “Fine, Jack. Whatever you say.”

“Michael, rarely do we get humans, nonetheless in a middle of a war. They already have enough on their plates, don’t terrify them to death.” Jack sighed.

The younger, red headed siren puffed irritably before shrugging. “Jack, I don’t know why you like them so much. Humans are kind of dumb, and they litter too fucking much.”

Jack cast her eyes up at the human in the water with them, who was beginning to idly float.

Michael didn’t wait for anything else before he weakly smiled at Jack in an apology, his attention getting pulled away when another cannon shot vibrated the lukewarm water that they swam in.

And just like that, in a flash, Michael’s dark orange tail faded into the gloomy depths of the sea, the sound of rushing water slowly disappearing as Michael was consumed to the darkness, and Jack was left all alone with the body that was now oddly still above.

Jack sighed loudly. She moved slowly upwards, not wanting to be spotted by the other humans still firing cannons and shouting loudly in different tongues. The man was beginning to sink back down into the water, body limp that made Jack’s heart lurch with concern.

Jack bit down on her lip at the waft of blood that the body emitted and resisted her natural instincts, but nonetheless she pressed two fingers to the man’s warm neck, feeling the faint pulse and let out a breath of relief— she did not want Michael to be eating _anyone_ any time soon.

Plus, she felt bad for the man. She couldn’t make out the clear details, but the human was of some high rank, gold trim on his clothing, fancy silver buttons and medals pinned to his jacket. His clothes were heavy, beard trimmed finely when Jack ran her fingers over his face, his dark blond hair pulled back into an expensive ribbon that Jack undid and tied it around her hand— finder’s fee.

The siren looped an arm around the man and swam up to the surface before she started heading towards the shore in the distance, leaving the cannon fodder and looming naval fleets behind.

* * *

 

Humans were interesting creatures. As much as he wanted to get close to them, or anyone else besides Geoff, Jack wouldn’t let them.

“They aren’t food unless they’re dead. All they do is kill each other over petty things. They’re dumb, clumsy, and ruthless.” She would tell them.

Michael would always nod just to get her to shut up; Ray would just ignore her and move on. He knew the rules by now.

But, something in the back of Ray’s mind wouldn’t leave him alone from every time he’d think about those words. Weren’t sirens that bad? They were territorial as shit. He’d remember countless times Michael almost bit Geoff for getting too close to his food when he was in a bad mood, not to mention how Jack’s mother had been murdered by one of the sirens in their area for eating a fish they liked.

At least humans had contraptions. Ray was limited to his sea shells that’d he hide in their cave, stupid seaweed necklaces that he and Michael used to put on when they were younger.

But no, humans had _ships_. They had cannons that could break another ship apart; Ray only had his claws and teeth that could rip a body to shreds. But a boat? One of those ships could plow through another, and leave wreckage that Ray and Michael would explore for weeks with the exception of maybe eating some of the bodies that aimlessly floated around.

They were countless treasures in those ships, lanterns and things that Ray would bring to Geoff and Geoff would always tell him the story behind it.

_“What’s this?” Ray remembered asking, holding a metal tube with glass on either end and extended when pulled._

_Geoff laughed at him and took the object and turned it thrice in hand before expanded it._

_“A telescope. Sailors use it to see the stars, to know where they’re going. It’s an astral compass.”_

_“I wonder where they were going. Did the sailors have to memorize the stars to know where they were going?”_

_Geoff smiled, and had handed it back to Ray before breathing deeply._

_“I bet they were going to Great Britain. Maybe I’ll take you and Jack there one day. Not Michael, though, he’d probably try to bite everything,” Geoff smiled, walking across the wet sand of the beach before walking back over to the protruding rock on the shore, crouching on it and holding the object out in front of Ray._

_The siren took it back; he extended it just like Geoff did and peered up at the former captain’s face, grinning widely at the magnified version of Geoff._

_“Get your face out of my ‘scope, Geoff.”_

_“You’d be a cute navigator.” Geoff laughed, placing his hand on the end of the telescope and pushed it away in a different direction._

_Ray rolled his eyes. “Thanks man, too bad I don’t have legs. Tails for life, thank God, because you have ugly leg hair.”_

_“Maybe I’ll throw that fucking telescope so far you won’t be able to find it,” Geoff grumbled good naturedly before standing up again and peering out into the sea._

Ray let the memory fade back into his memory as the sound of a shout from one of the ships filled his ears.

But this, this was the real thing in action. Rarely did ships pass through their waters, and when they did, they were small fishing boats that Ray had to stay far away from (Jack’s rules) to avoid getting tangled in one and mistaken for a quite large fish.

This was a whole goddamn naval battle, and Ray had a front seat to the show.

His head popped up from the water, head bobbing up and down in the waves as he watched the ships circle each other and fire cannons at random, humans getting blasted off of the ship that nonetheless he could assume Michael was going after.

It took a while until both the ships were reduced to just piles of rubble, charred and smoking in the dim light of the night, faint yelling of the humans left aboard. They could always swim to shore where Geoff was, but the swim was long and tiring. Yet, if they stayed on the boat, they’d certainly die of hydration.

The ships were slowly sinking below the waves, one of them staying somewhat upright and its bow sticking up out of the water due to the shallowness. Ray started to swim towards it in curiosity, dipping below the waves.

With the majority of the activity gone by now, Ray began to approach it eagerly and cautiously, head popping up now and again to make sure there were no stranded sailors that he had to be weary of.

Though, something caught his gaze and ears.

Coming from one of the detached sections of one of the boats that had beached on a sandbar, two figures laid on it, staring down at the water below.

The echo of a lulling voice filled the air, sweet singing that even made Ray’s heart hurt, but he knew that voice from anywhere.

Ray slipped under the water again, swimming swiftly and close to Michael who was trying to lure one of the sailors under.

As soon as he got close, Ray broke the surface to see the man Michael had been enchanting hit the wood of the boat, unconscious.

“Michael,” Ray hissed, swimming up to him.

Looking panic, Michael turned his head towards him with wide eyes.

“Ray, I swear to God, I’m not going to kill him, but he was screaming. I had to shut him up. I don’t think his arm is supposed to bend that way.” Michael growled, pointing at the man slumped against the planks.

Ray swam overly slowly and hesitantly before his fingertips met the edges of planks and hauled himself upwards to get a good look. Ray’s nose scrunched up in distaste at the oddly angled limb, slipping back into the water next to Michael.

“Jack said to help them, so I’m helping,” Michael continued with a small hiss, gaze softening when he looked back at the human, “will you help me bring this piece of shit to shore?”

“What’s in it for me?” Ray grunted, crossing his arms.

“Ray,” Michael groaned loudly, tail swishing impatiently, “please?

Ray pouted for a moment before he sighed, letting his forehead bump against Michael’s shoulder.

“Be happy I like you.”

“Thanks, fucker,” the redhead smiled.

* * *

 

Geoff peered up at the sky, eyes squinting to make out the dim stars against the bright constellations before his gaze dropped down to the bright embers of the ships that had been fighting moments ago. He sighed, thoughts slowly churning in his head before he looked down at his pocket watch, snapping it shut with a quick flick of his fingers.

He pocketed the watch, slipping his hands into his breeches as well as he gazed out on the water, shimmering orange and lighter bright from the light of the wreckage. He breathed in through his nose, and exhaled from his mouth.

"It'd be funny if it was the one that Haywood's captain of. I'd love to see his stubborn ass trying to take me down again, but this time without his ship," Geoff grumbled to himself with a smile before he stretched his arms over his head with a grunt.

“Better have Michael and Ray give it a good hunt for supplies, I’m running low on crackers and whiskey,” he murmured to himself, glancing back at the house built on stilts over the water a couple of feet away. It was a nice night to be out, and might as well since he could expect Ray bringing shit from the ships to get analyzed.

The former sailor walked through the dry sand over to his fire, crouching down and taking a seat on one of the logs and running his hands through his hair. This was a long fucking day, especially when they ships had been going at it since around ten am— Geoff took his watch out again— and now it was around midnight.

“At least it’s something fucking entertaining around here,” Geoff grumbled to himself, sighing deeply before he grabbed a bottle of whiskey propped up against the log.

He pushed the cork out and off to the side into the sand, which he could wash off later, before bringing the cool glass to his mouth and taking a long swig of it.

Geoff put it down afterwards, coughing a bit to clear his throat and get rid of the burn before reaching out, grabbing the cork, and dusting it off on his breeches. He popped it back it.

He slid off his log and into the sand, his back resting against the piece of wood. Geoff licked his lips idly, tilting his head back at the stars and to blink his eyes slowly. Might as well wait.

“Geoff!”

The man groaned quietly, pushing himself off the log and used his knees to stand up. Geoff stretched a bit although he hadn’t been lying down too long, but walked over to the shoreline, peering out into the abyss.

He spotted the familiar short, curly red hair from the water, Jack’s body silhouetted by the fires that blazed behind hair, larger figure in her arms that caused Geoff to approach the water, kicked his shoes off, and to slip into the sea knees deep.

“What’s wrong?”

Jack grunted, trying to heave the man towards Geoff but he got the memo and started trudging deeper into the sea, not getting a good look at the man in Jack’s arm, but long enough to see the blood oozing from the side of his face and haggard look that Geoff was too familiar with to forget.

Geoff sighed, hooking his arms underneath the man’s arms as soon as the siren eased her grip off of him and into Geoff’s arms.

“You better get me the best fucking liquor from that battle, or I swear to God, Jack,” he grumbled, gritting his teeth as he pulled the other human back towards the shore.

“Thanks,” Jack chuckled, her lips twitching up into a smile. She retreated back into the water, lingering long enough to make sure Geoff had dragged the body up by the fire before she turned around and launched herself back into the murky abyss.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> turnwood in this chapter for like a sentence that could be considered more than platonic, i guess. 
> 
> but here's another chapter! yay! i finally got around to writing/finishing it.

There was molten lava in Ryan’s throat as he sat up, groggy and lightheaded.

His hands found support, feeling fabric underneath his fingers as he pushed against the cot, blinking away the sleep and crust that had gathered in his eyes.

His gaze dropped from the darkness engulfing him, eyes adjusting to see the stark white bandages wrapped around his arm. _What had happened?_

Ryan blinked and swallowed thickly, grunting at the taste of salt in his mouth and the pain of trying to swallow. Slowly, he pushed off against the cot, taking in where he was.

It looked like a house. Inside was a kitchen unit, a door cracked open to reveal a bathroom and two windows on the front, next to the front door, covered in thick drapes to prevent any light from streaming in. The strong smell of liquor lingered in the air, stale and stagnant. There was another cot next to him, the familiar face of one his own people— his quartermaster.

Ryan stood up, gripping onto the wall for leverage before he slowly walked over to the man lying down, heart thumping in his chest as the thought of him being dead came across his mind.

Ryan approached him, staring down at the Brit with squinted eyes. Besides a few burns and cuts here and there, the man looked fine, his chest rising and falling steadily. Of course Gavin would have made it, but there's no one else that Ryan would prefer getting stuck with— well there was an exception— at least Gavin was entertaining and could be brilliant when he wanted to.

Coming back to reality, the thought of being stranded, the wreckage, his ship going down made Ryan’s heart lurch and the fear of _where the fuck was he_ entered his mind. He leaned against the wall momentarily, letting all the memories flood back in as he took a deep breath.

The captain looked about the cabin, spotting his sword propped up against the cot. He patted down his clothes, somewhat wet and he'd been stripped of his coat, boots, shirt, left bare on his chest and damp breeches and stockings remaining on his frame.

They couldn't _bother_ to take his stockings off?

Ryan threw his stockings off onto the cot almost angrily, grabbing the sword and clasping it tight in hand. His arms ached in pain and Ryan seethed, clenching his muscles involuntarily at the throb. He switched the sword to his left hand, grunting at the unfamiliar grip but it was better than his damaged arm’s slow reflexes.

The naval captain watched slowly, pushing open the front door, letting the familiar sting of the sea slap him in the face and the brightness of the sky stain his eyes and adjust. He pushed the door all the way open, standing in the doorframe and panned across the horizon, spotting the glowing embers of two massive ships in the near distance.

“Damn,” Ryan grunted hoarsely, slumping against the doorframe and rubbed his forehead. How the hell was he going to get back home? How was he going to explain this big of a naval failure? They needed ships out here as soon as possible, or the British were going to get the shipment, and then the Americans were going to be _royally_ fucked.

Inhaling deeply to regain his composure and focus on the task at hand, Ryan stepped toward the railing and gripped it as he descended downwards, trying to maintain some kind of equilibrium.

The sand was scalding underneath his feet, and Ryan clenched his teeth, hissing out curses as his skin grew accustomed to the hot temperatures. He breathed slowly again, eyes sweeping the side of the beach that had been hidden by the house moments ago.

A man, who looked all too familiar, was sitting atop of a log that was stationed right in front of a fire. It looked like the man was cooking. The smell of fish roasting over the flames hit Ryan’s nostrils as soon as he walked in that direction.

He reaffirmed his grip on his sword, knuckles going white every now and again when he squeezed the grip.

Ryan’s eyes widened when he noticed who it was, cautiously approaching the man from behind and pointing the sword at his neck.

Finally, the man must have registered the other presence, flipping around and almost screamed at Ryan before his brow furrowed in anger.

“Ramsey,” Ryan grumbled.

“Haywood,” Geoff greeted back, clearing his throat and straightening his clothes before he glared at the sword that Ryan was pushing up against his throat.

Geoff grunted, “Calm down there, buddy.”

He used the palm of his hand to direct the blade elsewhere and Ryan let him, eyes analyzing Geoff and staring at him with no ounce of hesitation that made Geoff visibly shuffle awkwardly under the gaze.

“You look wretched,” Ryan said, lowering the blade a bit before he stabbed it into the sand besides him to use to keep himself propped upright.

“Well it's your fucking fault I'm stuck here, you son of a bitch.”

Ryan gritted his teeth, crossing his arms and ignored Geoff’s seething eyes.

“I might have helped but it's not my fucking fault you're marooned at some island near Nassau.”

“Marooned!” Geoff’s voice cracked, taking a step forward to jab Ryan in the chest with his finger.

“Notorious mass murderer and bloody pirate, former jewel of the colonists, Geoffrey Ramsey, marooned on an island off of Nassau for not being able to run a pirate ship,” Ryan rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

“I wasn't marooned! You destroyed my ship!”

“Why would I destroy your fucking ship and leave you?” Ryan snapped, “I'm smart enough to capture fucking pirates and turn them in for a reward, you asshat.”

Geoff glared daggers at Ryan before he flopped back down on the log, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and taking a long swig, some of the alcohol dribbling down his chin that cause Ryan’s nose to scrunch up in disgust.

“All my booze and cargo, gone,” Geoff grumbled, watching Ryan through angered eyes at the blond sat down on the log opposite of Geoff, tossing his sword to the side.

Ryan rolled his eyes, “You could have been a captain.”

“Oh, and that worked out so well for you,” Geoff laughed humorlessly.

Ryan grunted, crossing his legs and ran a hand through his blond hair, letting the strands fall loosely.

“That's the risk of fighting a war, Geoff,” Ryan mumbled, “but you could have served the country instead of fleeing! You’ll see. It may seem like we’re not winning now, but Washington’s trying to been getting the aid of the French and Spanish.”

“The French only care about themselves.”

“Not if we're fighting Britain.”

Geoff rolled his eyes. “You didn't get fucking stranded on this island to talk politics with me, Haywood.”

Ryan rubbed his forehead tiredly. “I can't believe I'm stuck here, and with you of all people.”

“Revenge,” Geoff grinned wildly, taking another swig of the whiskey.

Ryan groaned bitterly.

* * *

 

“I don’t like him,” Geoff snorted, voice cracking, “him or his prissy English accent.”

“I’m sure he’s not that bad,” Jack hummed, looking back on shore and at the two other men sitting on Geoff’s logs in front of the fire.

“Not bad?” Geoff echoed, “He put a sword to my throat!”

“Geoff, anyone would do that if they got stranded on an island and had no clue what was going on, for the most part,” Jack hummed once more, sunbathing against the rock and sighing deeply, “how about the kid?”

Geoff grinned at that, laughing. “Who? Gavin? He’s a fucking dumb idiot. He’ll be fine. I can’t wait to be able to scare his skinny ass without the threat of breaking his arm— but Ryan. If he had the strength, he’d march right up to Washington and tell him where to find the great Geoffrey Ramsey and slice my head clean off!”

Jack groaned loudly, rolling her eyes and glancing over at Geoff.

“He seems nice, I like him. Someone finally on land who can kick your ass for me,” she mumbled, grinning at Geoff, closing her eyes and laying her head back down against the rock.

Geoff crossed his arms, grumbling under his breath as he gazed back over at the two men conversing happily on _his_ spot.

“He tried multiple times to blow my ship apart.” Geoff whined, lip protruding like a five year old.

“Geoff, he's a captain for the colonists and you're a pirate, I'm sure it's his job to be trying to sink your ship,” Jack sighed.

“But we used to be friends!” Geoff glared in Ryan and Gavin’s directions, “and he has the fucking audacity to blow my ship apart.”

Jack groaned at Geoff’s complaints, folding her arms and sitting up. She slipped back down into the water.

“Jack, don't leave,” Geoff whined.

“Have fun.” Jack chuckled before she slipped forward into the water.

Geoff groaned loudly, glancing back at shore to spot Ryan and Gavin still conversing in front of the fire.

“Go socialize!” Jack called before she swam away to avoid Geoff’s response.

The elder turned the heel of his foot and walked back over to the group.

* * *

 

_The ship creaked and cracked, and fire danced in his eyes, everything he worked for, everything he earned was falling apart at the seams._

_The ship rocked as if it were caught in a storm, the deep dark sea churning underneath, the sails snapped and groaned with the force of the winds, and cannon shots cracked like thunder._

_Through the smoke and haze of the naval battle, Ryan could see the other ship almost as damaged as his. He spotted the stark red uniform of the British captain, swallowing a thump in his throat._

_Ryan grimaced as men screamed as another cannon shot was blasted from the British, his fingers plugging up his ears immediately, but he let go to grab the side of the ship to brace for impact. The ship lurched and crunched when it hit, fires licking into life on his beautiful ship. Ryan’s heart throbbed in his chest, nerves hitting the highest that they had ever been in a long time._

_Probably the worst ever idea hit him yet, but here they were, fighting with the British while they needed those supplies on Nassau, Ryan was determined that one way or another they were going to get them— or he was going to get them._

_Running on pure adrenaline, Ryan sprinted into his captain's quarters, grabbing a red ribbon and used it to tie back his hair messily, switching it out with the worn out blue ribbon. He grabbed his sheath with his sword firmly in its protection. He latched the belt around his hips and exited his cabin._

_Ryan pushed through the mass of people on deck, parting the sea of bodies, some dead, some still breathing, before he found the man he was looking for._

_“Turney!” Ryan shouted, pushing around people before grabbing the man’s arm and forcing Turney to face him._

_“Ryan,” the sailor said, staring up at him with calm eyes, unlike the ocean below._

_“I'm going to do something I'm probably going to regret, I need you to be in charge. I don't care if that's not your job, but I trust you with my ship and my life, understood?” Ryan said, cupping Turney’s face, using him as an anchor while the boat swayed._

_“Ryan,” Turney protested, cocking an eyebrow, his hands flying to Ryan’s arms and loosely held onto them, “What the fuck do you think you're doing?”_

_Ryan grinned cockily, trying to not let his cocky grin not reassure the sailor, but Turney looked even more suspicious. He dropped his hands, giving a firm squeeze to Turney’s smaller hands._

_“I'll be back, don't do too much damage while I'm gone,” Ryan smiled, running a hand through Turney’s short hair before wrapping his arms around him. He gave the other a firm hug, taking a step back with a nod and turned on his heel._

_“Ryan!” Turney said, voice higher than normal, his eyes wide and blushed crawling on his face. He tried to reach out to Ryan as he weaved in and out of the crowd, glancing back at the other before biting down on his lip. He was doing this for him, doing this for his crew._

_Ryan headed to the opposite end of the ship as his name being called faded into the distance. He came to one of the railings of the ship, climbing onto the outside of the ship before he pushed off the side of the ship and plummeted into the deep dark water below._

_Bubbles sparked besides him and floated above him as Ryan opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the murky tones and color of the water. His lungs screamed for air and propelled himself towards the surface._

_He broke, and gasped for breath desperately, blinking the water out of his eyes as the fire from both ships reflected like mirrors in his eyes. Slowly, he began swimming towards the other ship, diving under every now and again when cannons shot, even under water being able to hear the muffled blast before he came up for more air._

_Once he got close enough to the opposite ship and stopped every so often to gain breath and avoid sharp parts from the cannon blasts, Ryan gripped onto whatever he could and climbed the mammoth ship, thankful for the ledges and outcroppings for the sole purpose of scaling the ship, keeping his hip for the sword every now and again to make sure it was still in it’s rightful place, and thankfully, the sword seemed to have the habit of sticking around._

_He pulled himself up to be able to see through the slats of the railing, the ship’s crew focused on yelling orders, almost more chaotic than his own. The captain stood at the helm, beginning to move out towards the sailors scurrying on deck._

_Ryan climb aboard as quietly as he could, heaving himself over the railing of the ship with a grunt and pushed some of the loose wet locks of darkened blond hair out of his eyes._

_He couldn’t even hear himself pant over the wind, voices, and the creak of the massive boat. He cast his eyes over to his own ship, bile creeping up as he saw it’s state of being. The boat glowed with fire and was broken, planks scattering in the water and sides of the ship sitting in the ocean, floating along._

_Shaking his head, Ryan brought himself back to reality and unsheathed the sword, running up behind the captain and brought the sword up to his neck._

_Though, having must of been heard, the captain backed up and pushed him against the railings, knocking the wind out of Ryan momentarily, flipping around to face him._

_The British captain’s hand went flying to his own sword, and Ryan brought his up just to hear the metal clash in time._

_“Haywood,” the Brit mumbled, a little bit of a Scottish accent creeping into his voice._

_“Kovic,” Ryan croaked back as the other man moved his sword upwards towards Ryan’s throat, causing the colonist to keep his sword raised to prevent the Brit from slicing his head clean off._

_The British captain’s sword slipped and nicked Ryan deep in the cheek, causing the American to stumble back and bring a hand up to wipe the blood away._

_Kovic gritted his teeth, holding a sword in one hand and pulled his pistol from the other, aiming it at Ryan who leaned against the edge of the ship, “Get back to your own ship, Haywood,” the man sighed, sounding agitated._

_Ryan grunted in response before he pushed himself off of the side of the ship, launching himself towards Kovic and smacked the pistol out of the man’s hand._

_The Brit used his elbow to knock the air out of Ryan and pushed him off of him. Kovic propped himself up from the floorboards of the ship, pushing himself into a standing position. Ryan groaned and stood up, glaring up at the other, their swords clashing together again and multiple times after, cuts and bruises dotting each other from elbows knocking and blades cutting._

_Soon enough, Kovic had Ryan pinned to the side of the ship, the side of the sword pressing against the underside of Ryan’s chin, breaking the skin and leaking down neck._

_“We need those supplies from Nassau, Haywood, don’t even try,” he said, gritting his teeth and getting into Ryan’s face._

_The American stared back, Adam’s apple bobbing at the blade, keeping his head tilted upwards on instinct._

_“You’re going to lose this war, Kovic,” Ryan grumbled, eyes narrowing, “You know fighting for Hullum isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’d be a better pirate than fighting for the British.” He lowered his sword, slipping it into his sheath and gritted his teeth together, legs hitting the back of the edge of the boat._

_“Are you really that desperate for captains?” Kovic murmured._

_Ryan rolled his eyes, reaching up and quickly punching the Brit in the face, moving to the side in recoil. He panted as Kovic struggled to stand up, swiftly and with vice punched Ryan in the face as well to get the man off guard._

_Kovic grunted at the words before he kneed Ryan in the groin, “I warned you,” he said, sighing as Ryan groaned. With Ryan dazed and seething in pain, Kovic used his weight to push Ryan off the side of the ship, watching the American fall and get swallowed up in the sea with an ugly thunk._

_Kovic took a step back, letting out a loud sigh and brought a hand up, wiping the blood from his nose when Ryan had gotten a chance to knock him with his hand or elbow— he couldn’t remember._

_The Brit turned to the ship, seeing a few sailors who had been watching. “Greene, get us the fuck out of here.” he barked._

* * *

 

“Come on, he's coming back over here,” Ryan muttered under his breath.

Gavin cocked his head from Geoff direction, raising an eyebrow and glancing back at Ryan, “You sure about this?”

Ryan’s eyebrows furrowed, “Do we have any other choice?”

Gavin shrugged nonchalantly, pushing against the log and forcing himself to stand up in which Ryan quickly followed suit, pulling his sword from the ground and firmly into his grasp.

“What are you two up to?” Geoff barked at them as he shuffled over, glaring at the two.

Ryan ignored Geoff as he began walking towards the thicket of trees that began growing more in on the island, and beyond that, Geoff had said a village from which he stole supplies from plenty of times.

“Gavin,” Geoff hissed, grabbing Gavin’s wrist before the younger could pull himself away.

Gavin rolled his eyes, “Ryan wants to make a bigger fire.”

“I'm getting off this island, Geoff, there must be ships nearby. I _have_ to leave,” Ryan snapped, prying Geoff’s hand away from Gavin’s arm.

The younger of the two stepped out of the way as Geoff moved forward and puffed out his chest, matching up to Ryan’s size easily.

Ryan met his gaze with narrowed eyes.

“What the fuck is keeping you here?”

“They’ll arrest me if I go to the village,” Geoff snapped back.

Ryan searched the older’s eyes, “That’s going to stop you? You were a pirate, Geoff, you broke the law and blew up ships to steal, that’s really what’s keeping you here?”

“Then why are you making a fire instead of just going to the village?”

Ryan stared back into Geoff’s eyes as the older continued speaking, “You might attract the attention from a British ship nearby if you start a massive fire, genius, I’m sure they’d be _honored_ to have Captain James Ryan Haywood aboard their ship.”

“Your first name’s James?” Gavin piped into the conversation but was brushed off by Ryan as he continued to focus on the man in front of him.

“I don’t know who’s in the village, but fine, I’ll go get firewood for night anyways. Anywhere,” he gestured to the forest, “is better than here.”

Ryan grumbled, shooting Geoff a glare as the bearded man grinned in success, watching with amusement as Ryan shot them both glares, turned on his heel, and headed into the forest.

“James,” Gavin repeated and he turned to Geoff, “you better bloody tell me what’s with you and Ryan.”

Geoff shot him a glare. “It’s not worth it.”

“Geoff,” Gavin whined.

Geoff grunted loudly, grabbing a stick and sat down on one of the logs surrounding the fire, poking at it with it.

“Geoff,” Gavin whined again, steepling his fingers.

“Maybe one day,” Geoff mumbled.

The younger groaned loudly before he held out his hand. “Pass me that whiskey.”

“My pleasure,” the former pirate chuckled, tossing it in Gavin’s direction to hear the other utter a squawk sound that sent Geoff into a fit of laughter at the sheer sound of such an animalistic thing coming from a human’s mouth.

Perhaps that nose was a beak after all.

* * *

 

“Oi, Geoff!”

“What?” Geoff shouted, stabbing a cork in one of the bottles of liquor, using a branch to pry the confining substance away from his drink.

“Why’s Ryan carrying a bloke? Bloody hell, he’s naked! Geoff!” Gavin shouted, and Geoff could hear the sand that Gavin was kicking up spray all over the fire.

He turned around to see what the commotion was, eyes landing on Ryan carrying another man in his arms. Geoff shot up, walking over to the other captain who was a bit away, emerging from the island’s forest.

Geoff’s eyes widened. That motherfucker. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!!!
> 
> i'd like to mention that meg is not a man, she's just dressing like one and cut her hair so she could be in the navy. also that funhaus are totally the ah gang's enemies in this.


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